Posts Tagged ‘Dave Navarro’

Dave Navarro, Jane’s Addiction

Wednesday, February 9th, 2022

…Dave Navarro, Jane’s Addiction…The night before Halloween 1997, Hammerstein Ballroom…Jane’s Addiction was the first band I photographed.  They were the Best and the most fun band to photograph. They always gave an intense performance with a lot going on visually. 

It was the beginning of my career and I had no idea what I was doing.  I really didn’t deserve to be there with my camera.  At that point I just reacted to what I saw.  They were energetic and the crowds were overzealous even before the band went on the stage.  The air was drenched with adrenaline.  Sweat dripped down my hair into the camera while I frantically loaded the next roll of film.  It was 36 shots, then I got the next roll of film out of my pocket while the exposed film was rewinding.  Pop the back of the camera open and load the film in seconds without looking while there was chaos on stage, and a surging crowd pushing against the barrier at my back.  I never looked back at the hundreds of people because if that wave broke through only the instinct of running underneath the stage would spare me from being trampled.   I was always soaked in sweat after I photographed. 

I haven’t photographed bands in a long time because my work has progressed to documenting more serious subjects.  But when I’m lost, I try to think back to the beginning, when I was in over my head but found solace in not knowing much about the world and living in the moment. 

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Jane’s Addiction

Sunday, October 31st, 2010

..October 2009 New York..

13 years ago, I photographed a Jane’s Addiction concert on October 30, 1997 at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. I have a large photograph from the concert hanging in my living room. A symbol of the start of my career.

I remember the exact moment when I snapped the photo and the lyric Perry was singing. He put his leg over the monitor leaned towards the crowd. I snapped away.

I was about a foot away in the photo pit. It was the first song. A nervous sweat poured out of me all over my camera. My finger was on the shutter button all concert. The energy from the band and crowd made me feel like I was on a wave.

At the end of the second song Dave leaned down from the stage with a rose sticking in his hair. I heard his soft voice over the anarchic crowd and shreeking teenage girls. “Is everything ok?’ I nodded. I can’t say it was surreal. It was unrealistic.

I drove to Washington, DC the day after. Worrying all night if that shot came out. I picked up my film, immediately looked for that series of shoots. Walking down a cobblestone street in Georgetown and looking at the film simultaneously. I got the shot. I remember the walk like it was yesterday. 23 and the beginning of something. Of what?

Today I sat by the river with 2 friends. I starred at the broken wooden piers disappearing into the dark blue river. I pretended to listen to them speak. Fading in and out of a mindless conversation I’ve heard the past 12 years of my life from dozens of different people.

Their 8 years younger than me. So this conversation is new to them. Seagulls land and perch on top of the broken wooden piers sticking out of the water. From a distance they look like gargoyles a top a cathedral. Behind the bench we’re sitting on, bicycles and joggers zoom by us. Towards the side, two gay men sitting in the grass are kissing.

My friends are babbling away as I nod. The sun is fading underneath the coastline. I wasn’t sure what the future was on October 30, 1997. Twelve years later in some sense, I don’t know what the future will bring.

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